After eight months of intensive preparation, the women?s national hockey team are set to compete next week in the Central American and Caribbean Games in the Dominican Republic.

The team will be vying for a spot in the 2007 Pan American Games but also hope to prove that Bermuda are truly capable of fielding a competitive team.

Coach Matt Spencer admitted that the Bermuda squad is going into the July 19-31 Games as underdogs ? but it is his hope the team will surprise the competition with their progress.

?It would be a great leap forward for Bermuda Hockey if we could make the final four,? Spencer said. ?To be truthful, the final position is not that important. What is important is the hockey we play. If we play hard according to the game plan and believe we can win, the rest will take care of itself.?

The top two teams of the eight competing in the CACs will automatically qualify for the Pan Ams and the coach expects the competition will be fierce.

?The team?s greatest challenge is to be able to be mentally strong throughout the tournament,? he said.

?Every game we go into as the underdogs and every team is expecting to get three points off us. Historically, our results have been poor and it?s going to be a huge effort to shake this stigma and re-engineer how Bermuda is perceived in hockey.

?This is going to be physically exhausting but also mentally difficult. I believe that we are ready for it.?

Bermuda will be tested right out of the gate, as the team faces top contender Trinidad and Tobago in their very first match.

?They play a really offensive game of hockey and historically have had pace to burn, we have identified this and have a game plan to counter this,? Spencer said.

The squad have put in a hard eight months of training and the coach said old excuses about poor training facilities on the Island have been laid to rest.

?It will be a good yardstick to see how far we have progressed,? Spencer said.

?In the past we have always had the excuse that we will never be competitive until we get an Astroturf. Well, here it is and we have played two full seasons on it, so there really are no more excuses.?

Just to make the team, the players have already had to prove themselves to Spencer and assistant coach Gareth Tavares as the squad were gradually whittled down over the last six months from 46 players to the 16 making the trip to Santo Domingo.

Bermuda have an additional two players on reserve in case of injuries.

Spencer said the progress of the players to date has been notable.

?There have been some rough times, which were expected with such an intense programme, but on the whole the girls have met the challenge and the standard of hockey on this Island has definitely improved,? he said.

As an extra test to prepare the squad for the CAC Games, a team from New York ? the Big Apple Hockey Flickers ? came to the Island to play the team in a small tournament which also saw them face off against a team of on-Island non-Bermudian players.

The national team played five matches over the June 30 - July 3 weekend and walked away with a 3-2 record.

The results highlighted some of the mental challenges the team will have to overcome in order to be successful in Dominican Republic.

?The performance by the team in the weekend tournament against the Big Apple Hockey Flickers and a ?Rest of the World? team was good,? Spencer said. ?There was some fantastic hockey played by our girls and signs that the team is beginning to gel were there.

?Unfortunately, some silly errors and mental lapses often undid a lot of the hard work that we had initially put in.

?For example, in the first game against the Big Apple Hockey Flickers we were up 1-0 with 15 minutes left on the clock and we ended up losing 3-1.?

The national team rebounded and defeated the ?Rest? team 4-1 in their next match, and then won two back-to-back games the following day, 3-0 against the Big Apple and 3-1 against the Rest.

?This was a good testimony to both the girls? character and fitness,? Spencer said.

However the team stumbled again in their final match with the New York squad, losing 4-2.

?Again mental lapses were our downfall,? the coach said.

Despite the mixed results, the small tournament was a learning experience for the side, he added.

?We learned that we can soak up plenty of pressure, can score goals and most importantly we are finally learning how to win,? Spencer said. ?I think it was great that we played such a high quality team (the BAHF) so close to the tournament as the girls, have been shown that errors against a strong opposition do not go unpunished.?

The coach said the players making the trip are fit and ready for the challenge but must stay focused.

?Our biggest weakness is that we have been guilty of taking ?mental vacations? during the game, if we can iron this out we will have a realistic chance,? he said.

Bermuda?s first match against Trinidad and Tobago will take place on Friday. On Sunday July 23, they will face Netherlands Antilles and follow up with a match against Mexico on Tuesday, July 25 in their attempt to make the play-offs.Ana Abend, Samantha Adams, Jennifer Beech, Joanne Bielby, Caroline Black, Francesca Cacace, Fiona Doe, Hannah Ellision, Kirsten Faria, Jessica Hollis, Maryellen Jackson, Lisa LeBlanc, Elizabeth Hartley, Sharmini Thamotheram, JoAnn Wilson and squad captain Megan Troake. Non-travelling reserve players are Marcia Ford and Angela Dunstan.